<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>When Gods Fall by kaylakaboo</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27787963">When Gods Fall</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaylakaboo/pseuds/kaylakaboo'>kaylakaboo</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Smut</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-11 01:28:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,818</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27787963</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaylakaboo/pseuds/kaylakaboo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When an old demon from your past you thought you had long out run resurfaces, leaving death and destruction in his path, you take it upon yourself to handle it. Alone. Because of course.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Tony Stark/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>No one had said it was going to be easy. In fact, Fury had assured you several times that it would actually be the farthest from it, but you needed this. Something. Anything to get you out from behind these walls.</p><p>Life at the compound, at home, had been amazing. Truly. There’s no denying or diminishing that, but you were a warrior- trained by Odin himself. But even with that, sometimes interior decorating is a lot to handle. You’re fairly certain battling the Frost Giants was easier than picking out a foyer table for the vestibule off the garden.</p><p>Apparently ‘does it even need one’ was not what Tony was looking for.</p><p>“Nick, hand it over.” You try to demand lightly, but his eyes narrow slightly at the hint of desperation in your voice.</p><p>With a huff, he hands the thick folder over to you. Had it been anyone else making such a demand…</p><p>You smile brightly and begin to flip through the pages, but the pictures before your eyes steal it away. He was smart, whoever he was. Vicious and unyielding. Politicians, dictators, war torn villages, men, women, children… It didn’t seem to matter who was caught in the crossfire. But still, each attack was carefully planned and executed differently with no witnesses, at least none left alive.</p><p>It’s no wonder no one else had been able to connect them.</p><p>“He’s inhuman at least.” Fury tells you.</p><p>At least, you echo. The way he moved- so poised. There was certainly no way he was human and moving that fast and leaving that much destruction in his wake. A report on the next page dictates that an agent on the ground had the misfortune of coming face to face with him.</p><p>She loaded a clip into his chest before he snapped her neck.</p><p>“And at worst?”</p><p>His silence creases your brow. “We might have a real threat.” He frowns. “Some analysts were able to isolate a picture of a sword he carries.” You come across the picture and a flash of a memory catches your breath for just a second, the glint of metal and the smell of blood, but you continue to scan the page seemingly unphased. “He’s escalating and I can’t help but think of New York.”</p><p>“Well, if it does come to that, we’re prepared.” You look at him, the smallest of smirks tugging your lips, but he doesn’t appear convinced. “Listen, I’ll take this off your hands and squash it. In and out, give me a few weeks and it’ll be over.”</p><p>“I’ll schedule a briefing with you and Thor for tomorrow. Rogers will run point.”</p><p>You laugh, light and airy. “There’s no need for that, honestly. This isn’t Loki. You’re probably right, an inhuman who just started coming into their powers and is looking for revenge.”</p><p>He narrows his eyes. “A call to be made tomorrow. I don’t need Stark breathing down my back because you decided the process doesn’t apply to you. I’ve got enough headaches.”</p><p>“Since when have you been into controlling what I do? And don’t tell me you’re actually scared of Tony. Between you and me, I still think you can take him.”</p><p>He doesn’t respond, he only keeps his eyes flat and trained on you. Not even a huff of a laugh before he lists off a few more reasons he should most definitely tell you no. While your eyes say you are focused on him, your mind has taken you back- sucked you under a memory you’ve been desperate to outrun.</p><p>You raise your hands before you get too deep. “Alright. Fine, how about I meet you halfway? I’ll take it to Thor, run it by Steve and we’ll get out of here sooner. And, in case this is more than we plan for, we’ll have the team on standby.” He looks as if he’s going to turn you down again, but you weren’t about to give up, so you stop him before he gets the chance. “Actual fire comes from these fingertips. From mercenaries to demi gods gone mad, there’s nothing I can’t handle. Let me get my hands a little dirty before I go completely stir crazy.”</p><p>He’s wary, but he concedes.</p><p>Steve, however, is a harder sell. It was only chance he had seen the file sitting beside you and your morning bagel. You hadn’t actually planned on telling him anything, but the man is too damn observant and won’t accept your attempts to brush him off.</p><p>“I’ve read that, Y/N. It’s not a ‘milk run’ or whatever you said to get Fury to hand it over.” He points a scathing finger at the harmless file and you have half a mind to be irritated. “I watched the videos too, saw him fight. Know whose technique his looks an awful lot like?” Of course you did, but he was creeping into dangerous territory. “He’s Asgardian, he has to be.”</p><p>Too damn observant.</p><p>“Do you think me incompetent?” You ask him, an accusatory tone sitting delicately on the tip of your tongue- avoiding the question he was bound to ask: do you know him? “Do you think me stupid?”</p><p>His shoulders relax as his brows furrow. “You know that’s not what I meant.”</p><p>“Even if he is Asgardian, what makes you think that suiting everyone up to battle it out in some poor city is that right call? We need more information, Steve. More time to identify any weak spots. If I go in dark, alone, I can get that information.”</p><p>He tilts his head. “You stole a mission just to do some recon?”</p><p>You usually find yourself wishing he wasn’t so perceptive. “I didn’t steal anything. Fury trusts me.” You dismiss him, grab your bagel and the file, and brush past him. “You worry too much Cap, you need a vacation.”</p><p>**</p><p>Tony finds you in the garden, soaking in the sun between the roses and the marigolds. He watches you for a moment- your head tilted back, fingers gently raked between the blades of grass and a look of ease he finds envious. In moments like these, he finds it almost impossible to feel anything but adoration for you.</p><p>That was part of the hold you had on him. Sometimes his love fell into infatuation.</p><p>“What do you say we go to that art show you told me about this weekend?” He asks from behind you. You turn to face him, shielding your eyes form the sun. “Unless you already have plans?”</p><p>Something in his voice gives away that this is a trap and you make a mental note to not go so easy on Steve the next time he’s in the ring with you.</p><p>Your smile is soft regardless. “Sounds lovely.” He narrows his eyes when you tilt your face back to the sun.</p><p>While you had never had any intentions of lying to the man you loved, you couldn’t have him trying to stop you or sneaking his was into the quinjet. And he most certainly would.</p><p>The harsh truth of the situation was simple: you would not be able to handle this mission if you were spending half of your energy protecting him. And you would. You swore it the day you met him and you had no intention of ever breaking that.</p><p>He huffs and your shoulders tense, waiting for the accusation. “Can I join you?” He asks instead.</p><p>His request surprises you, but you reach a hand out towards him and he takes it. You curl into his side when he lays back, his fingers trail lines up and down your arm. A steady rhythm that almost puts you in a trance.</p><p>“You only lay out here when you’ve got a lot on your mind.”</p><p>“You only propose fancy date when you’re trying to get something out of me.” You counter.</p><p>“It would appear we’re at an impasse then.” He sighs.</p><p>You squeeze his side. “Let the moment be, my love.”</p><p>He wants to, he truly does, but each time he closes his eyes he sees pictures of death and pain and total utter destruction. Things you were apparently running towards. Steve thought you would have told him by now, especially since you were supposedly only doing ‘recon’, but you hadn’t.</p><p>That only tells him one thing: you’re lying. Despite the decades you’d spent on Earth allowing you to adapt, you had always remained honorable. So, what couldn’t you tell the team? What couldn’t you tell him? What were you hiding?</p><p>“Talk to me.” His plea is soft, almost drowned out by the breeze rustling the leaves of the rose bushes.</p><p>You push up from his chest and look him in the eyes. “Darling, there is nothing to talk about.” But you know he won’t take that, so you continue to get up and walk away even as he calls after you.</p><p>There was nothing you could say to ease his mind, to soothe the anxieties you know plague him in the deepest crevices of his mind. You yourself were barely holding on, but you still had the smallest hope that he would just leave it. Just let you do what you need to and live in the moments you still had left with him.</p><p>A foolish hope.</p><p>He’s stunned for a moment before he jumps up to follow you inside. “Nothing to talk about?” He echoes, the hurt in his voice evident. “On the contrary, I think there are several things for us to talk about.”</p><p>Perhaps you’ll just stage an unfortunate training accident for Rogers instead.</p><p>“What, Tony? Cause I have got to tell you, hearing from everyone what I am and am not capable of is starting to get real irritating.”</p><p>He takes a breath and you imagine he’s started counting, his fingertips digging into the kitchen counter top. “I’m not trying to tell you what to do, but I would like to pose the possibility that maybe, maybe, this isn’t your greatest plan.” He starts to reach for you but pulls away and you frown. “You are magnificent in every sense of the word. Everyone on this planet has witnessed that.”</p><p>“But?” You prompt for him.</p><p>“But, no matter how great I may think you are, you can’t do it all alone. Just explain to me why you can’t bring backup. Why does it have to be you?” Panic begins to rise in his voice and you ache to soothe him. “Don’t go, just stay and we’ll figure out another plan.” It feels so incredibly selfish of him to ask you to abandon your duties but he was desperate to reason with you.</p><p>Not fair.</p><p>“I evaluated the threat based on the facts put before me and determined the best course of action.” Your eyes are blank, but that’s not what terrifies him most.</p><p>It was the wall he just witnessed rise up in an instant. A cold barrier slamming him in the face, telling him he is no longer welcome. He’s never seen it before and it starts to make him wonder just how much you were keeping hidden behind those heavy eyes.</p><p>Tony clenches his jaw. “Don’t give me some bullshit company line, Y/N. It’s me. What are you not telling me?”</p><p>So much.</p><p>But you could never. There are things you haven’t uttered in a millennium and you wish circumstances were different, but they weren’t. These stories would die with you and you couldn’t have it any other way.</p><p>“It’s my job.”</p><p>“It’s a suicide mission.” He grits out.</p><p>You close your eyes and will yourself to be patient, try to focus on the cool of the marble beneath your fingertips. “Have a little faith, Tony. I’m a big girl who was taking care of herself long before you came along.”</p><p>Your words only sting a little, as you’re right, per usual. It was hard for him to see you as the harden warrior you truly were, Asgardian steel forged in fire long before Thor had drawn his first breath, but that was why you loved him.</p><p>He saw you as more than the destiny Odin had chosen for you.</p><p>“Honey, I know you could burn this whole world to the ground if you wanted to, but the thought of losing you…” He trails off, the pain alone from that thought too much to put into words. That softens the edges of your anger and you grab his hand, graze his knuckles along your lips. “Stay.” He pleads again.</p><p>His fear isn’t to be blamed on him believing you to be incapable, it’s rooted in the belief that every good thing in his life only exists to be violently ripped from him.</p><p>You had been the greatest thing of all.</p><p>Out of all the people on this little, defenseless planet, he was the only one who could ever sway you. And, damn, if he wasn’t putting in his best work now. Couldn’t he tell you wanted to? That you’d love nothing more than to retreat into this home he had built you?</p><p>But you had only thought you were safe and, in order to keep the things you cherished most alive, you had to go. And you couldn’t have him anywhere near you.</p><p>“My dear. If I send someone in my place and they don’t return, I will live with their blood on my hands for the rest of my existence. No life is worth less than my own.”</p><p>He wants to scream at you how wrong he truly believes you to be- how the mark you’ve left on this world is worth everything, but he knows it’s no use. The look in your eyes is one he knows all too well.</p><p>Instead, he tries to sway you with his lips, slips his hand down your pants, curls his fingers into you. He swallows your reassurances until they devolve into the only thing you can manage: the breathy plea of his name.</p><p>He lifts you onto the counter, and right there in the kitchen he buries himself in you, runs his tongue between your folds, wraps his lips around your clit.</p><p>When you come, there’re sparks on your fingertips and a mess of incoherent promises falling from your lips. He hangs on to each one- chooses to take them as the truth.</p><p>His lips travel from you stomach to your lips, lingering every few moments to whisper pleas against you skin. When he lines himself before you and pauses, his tip at your entrance, your lips turn into a pout. He knows it’s unfair, wrong even, but he can’t stop himself.</p><p>“Stay.” He pleads one last time.</p><p>You pull him on top of you, your eyes bore into his and there’s a heat behind them, the briefest flicker of wild crimson. Your fingertips leave a burning warmth wherever they trail – he is completely transfixed.</p><p>“I am a part of you.” You vow.</p><p>It’s enough.</p><p>**</p><p>“Heard you and Tony going at it yesterday.” Natasha says as she dodges your foot, perpetually annoyed at the ease you seem to always land with. “I think the whole team would appreciate you two leaving our food out of your relationship.” She takes advantage of the momentary distraction and lands a fist on your jaw.</p><p>A burst if iron slips over your tongue. You shake it off and glare. “Cheater. But I would recommend throwing out those muffins.”</p><p>Natasha’s jaw drops and you knock her feet from below her, wincing internally at the harsh thud her body makes against the mat. When she sits back up, she scrunches her nose.</p><p>“I had one for breakfast.”</p><p>Laughter bursts from your chest and Natasha has to try and fight off her own smile. You double over, clutching your stomach, and try to promise and fresh, untainted, batch soon.</p><p>When you’ve finally calmed, you reach out a hand to help her up. “Another round?”</p><p>She removes her gloves and shakes her head, the slightest glint in her eyes when she looks back at you. Single perfectly arched brow raised, head tilted. “Why don’t you go pick on someone your own size?”</p><p>A glimpse of blonde passing from behind a row of punching bags catches your eyes, the brief flash of a memory filled with child’s laughter. Thor steps forward, hair pulled back and hands tucked in his jeans. Too civilian, you think, for someone who should still be in Asgard.</p><p>“I’ll have a go.” He smirks, keeps his voice playful, but in his eyes sits something heavy. Tracing it down, you find it in the tenseness of his shoulders, the outline of a balled fist beneath the thick material of his pockets.</p><p>Nat makes some kind of comment when you start towards him about leveling the compound, but you’re too worried to fully register it. It’s not until you both hear the training room doors shut, signaling the privacy he apparently thought this conversation needed, that your worry begins to build to panic.</p><p>“What’s happened?” Your voice is calm, desperate to depict a perfect picture of false ease.</p><p>“I wish I was here for a good sparring match, but I fear I have news.” His voice is low, eyes dark, and you begin to worry the mask may slip. “He’s here, Y/N. Vidar is here.” The name comes out like a slap to the face. “I may have been young when it happened, but I’ve heard the stories. Acts of revenge with no care who pays the price in the fallout.”</p><p>“No…” You start to shake your head.</p><p>Thor grabs your shoulder, his voice urgent. “He could be working his way to you.”</p><p>Shaking off his grasp, you turn away. “There’s no reason for him to be here, Thor. What grievance would he have with me?”</p><p>“Y/N, he’s the one responsible for Sol’s death.” He says softly and the color from your face drains. “After you left, my father cast him to another world to die alone for his crimes. He’s made his way back and if he could do what he did to her, a woman he claimed to love, what could he do to you?”</p><p>You don’t respond, you don’t even look at him. Instead you brace yourself against the cool metal of a weight bench. Thoughts were spinning around your head, cycling through torment. Relentless and abrasive, you feel the bar beneath your palms begin to give way.</p><p>The smell of singed metal accompanied by a bright orange glow seeping from beneath your fingers is almost hypnotic. The way it pulses out. A give and take reminiscent of the calmest beach.</p><p>What irony that holds.</p><p>Thor touches your shoulder, breaking your concentration. “Eldora.” He says softly.</p><p>Your hands burn bright, melting the bar straight through, and you spin on him. He’s only startled for a moment. “Don’t you ever call me that.” You hiss and your eyes flicker crimson. “The day I lost my sister was… I died with her. But I knew Vidar. Not through stories my mother would tell me. Through battle. Blood and sweat and love. He was family and I would know if he was here.” And you did. But this was your fight. Thor had no hand in this, none of them did and you intended to keep it that way.</p><p>Though on the outside your bright eyes and smoking hands cast intimidation, inside you we begging the gods that he wouldn’t tell anyone else his suspicions.</p><p>Thor backs off as he begins to doubt himself. Perhaps he was mistaken. He was just a child when he first met you and Sol. A wide-eyed little boy who loved and cherished you both. Odin had trusted you to lead some of the training for him and Loki, and you were honored.</p><p>The two became accustomed to your back porch, playing games and enjoying your sisters cooking. Those were the best years of your life, and why you had such a soft spot for both of them.</p><p>With all you two had been through, you had never given him a reason to not trust you.</p><p>He nods, conceding. “You would know.”</p><p>You hide your relief with a smile and reach up to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. “You worry too much. It’s going to be just fine.” You promise.</p><p>For a moment you see in his eyes the young boy so full of hope that used to pick flowers that reminded him of you. He says he cites you as one of the reasons he became the great man he is today.</p><p>You fear he may believe different if he ever finds out what you’re really doing.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Will you make it out alive?</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>In the middle of the night, sounds of you grunting and thrashing carry down the hall. Your body is caught and twisted in the sheets, and your forehead covered in sweat.</p><p>“No, Sol!” You scream and rush into the room. She lays still, her eyes cold and lifeless. You graze a tentative finger down her face and gently shake her. A trail of blood seeps from between her lips. “No, no, no.” You cry. “Please, please. Come back, please.”<br/>You reach for her body to cradle her to you, the blood from her abdomen soaking your clothes, and wail into her neck.<br/>“Oh, Gods, bring her back.” You sob.<br/>You awake breathless and in a panic- the sheets constricting your body doing nothing to help your situation. The fact that Tony hadn’t awaken or come rushing to your side hurts, but when you sit up, you realize you’re in an empty room.</p><p>“Jarvis? Where’s Tony?” You ask once you’ve gotten control over your breathing.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Miss, Mr. Stark has requested he not be disturbed.”</p><p>You pull your knees to your chest. “That’s two nights in a row, J. What’s he really doing?”</p><p>“I’m sorry, Miss-“</p><p>“Yeah, I know. I’m not privy to that information.” You rest your forehead on your knees and groan. “He’s still mad, isn’t he?” Your question is muffled.</p><p>“I think that’s a reasonable assumption.” Jarvis replies. You lay back down on your side, curl up, and try to fight back your tears. “Miss?” You hum your response. “Would you like me to contact him for you? Ask that he return?”</p><p>Yes. Right now, he was the only thing you needed but if he were to know that, if he were to see you like this, he’d disable every form of transportation just to keep you grounded.</p><p>“Thank you, but that’s alright. I’m sure he’s busy.”</p><p>**</p><p>“Alright, last one. I got three pancakes with blueberries, crispy bacon.” You hold out the plate and it’s only a few seconds before the grateful hands of Sam Wilson take the fresh breakfast.</p><p>He sticks his nose directly above the sticky sweetness and inhales deeply. “You are a saint amongst men.” He drools.</p><p>“God.” You correct him with a smirk and he salutes you with his fork.</p><p>“Something smells good!” Clint announces when he rounds the corner. “I have something for you.” He smiles wide and pulls a small trophy from behind his back. A golden little girl chasing after a soccer ball. ‘1st place’ written across the bottom.</p><p>“No way.” Natasha tries to say around a mouthful of eggs.</p><p>“Lyla’s team won the tournament?” You beam.</p><p>Clint’s nod mirrors the excitement radiating from you. “Award ceremony was last night. I was promptly instructed to show her favorite aunts.”</p><p>“We better be her favorites.” Again, Natasha’s mouth is full. She reaches for the trophy and starts to ask Clint questions about the game. He was very proud to announce that not only did she score four goals, he got each one on film.</p><p>Your excitement is cut short when Steve approaches you quietly from behind, and you groan internally.</p><p>“Can I talk to you?” He asks low, being mindful of the ears around.</p><p>Curtly, you nod and your shoulders tense. He can see the shift in your eyes, and that’s all he wants to know. Why were you playing this so close to the vest?</p><p>Thor told him that he was overacting, that you knew exactly what you were doing, but Steve wasn’t so convinced. Even if he was willing to agree that he was protective of you, saying that he was overreacting just didn’t sit right with him.</p><p>In all the years he had known you, he had never once seen you try to take on a mission solo. Tony was usually your partner, it didn’t take a genius to figure out why, but you had never turned down a volunteer. ‘I’ve been around a long time, Rogers. There’s a lot for me to show.’ You used to say.</p><p>For the life of him, he couldn’t understand why he was the only one who seemed to be pushing back.</p><p>“What can I help you with, Captain?” There’s a hint of disdain in your voice, but it doesn’t surprise him.</p><p>He holds a file out to you, but pulls it back when you reach for it. “Fury gave this to me. He told me it was the latest update for us. ‘Us’, as in you and me.” He raises a brow and suddenly you feel like a recruit getting reprimanded. “Which is funny, because I definitely remember you telling me you were going in ‘dark’ and ‘alone’.”</p><p>He waits for your response with that same look on his face, but you’re not sure you have one. So many stories you were juggling. He’s a revenge seeking inhuman, you’re not going in for combat, it’s a simple in and out take down.</p><p>Never had you been so careless, so scattered. Steve was so much more intuitive than the others gave him credit for and it was only a matter of time before he started talking to the rest of the team. When you drop your head into your hand and close your eyes, he thinks it’s the first time you’ve been honest in days.</p><p>He’d be right.</p><p>“Talk to me, Y/N. Whatever it is, you know I’ll help you.”</p><p>It’s his face, so honest and caring that does you in. “I can’t.” You whisper. “I just, I can’t.” He follows you when you grab his arm to pull him farther away from the group. “This is just something I need to do and I need you to trust me.” He looks out the window and doesn’t seem to have been swayed. You can almost hear the speech you’re about to get. “You can’t tell me there’s never been something you’ve been driven to handle yourself because it just means that much.”</p><p>Steve’s gaze snaps back to you. “That’s not fair.”</p><p>And it wasn’t. Bucky had always been a touchy subject with him, but you had promised to help him in his search. The amount of times Steve had left without warning for days though, was, well you had lost track.</p><p>He holds up the file. “Are you trying to tell me that this man is some long-lost friend that got dragged into something and needs your help?”</p><p>You frown. “Something like that. He won’t come willingly if he’s ambushed. It has to be me, and I have to be alone.”</p><p>His heavy sigh almost says as much as his eyes. “Why not just tell us?”</p><p>Tilting your head back, you try to stay as close to the truth as possible. “I will. Someday when I’m ready, but that time in my life? I’m not exactly eager to revisit it.”</p><p>“Look, I-“</p><p>“Ah, Y/N, there you are. I have something to show you.” Tony peaks around the corner. It takes him a moment to recognize the mood of the room. “Unless I’m interrupting something?”</p><p>You plaster a smile on your face and turn from Steve. “Not at all, I’m all yours.”</p><p>**</p><p>Tony flits around his lab erratically, pulling up schematics and what seem to be prototypes.</p><p>“Alright, I figured I have better odds of figuring out time travel than I do changing your mind, so I’ve decided to stop fighting you.”</p><p>“Oh?” Not exactly what you were expecting. When he knocks over a picture frame of you and him in the Maldives, your curiosity merges into confusion. “Tony, when was that last time you slept?”</p><p>He looks back to you and smirks. “Probably about the last time you did.”</p><p>You face falls flat. “That would be the last time you slept in your own bed.”</p><p>He raises his hands. “I know, I know, but I think you’ll be a little more forgiving when I show you what I’ve been doing.” He gestures to your hands. “I know you have the fists of fury-“</p><p>“They’re just my hands, no name.” You interject to remind him again that he may be witty with nicknames, but he was terrible at giving your powers their own.</p><p>He waves you off. “Very badass. Now, I know you hate carrying around extra gear, but I made you a few things anyways and I’m hoping to guilt you into taking them.” He shrugs and throws the first one on a bigger screen next to you.</p><p>You examine the blueprint. “Brass knuckles?”</p><p>“Similar, a little bit. New stark technology, and material. Not only is it weightless when it conforms to your hands, it also conducts electricity very well.” He tosses it to you, but as you catch it, it wraps around your knuckles. “Already have another pair in the works for Nat.”</p><p>It felt as if it was barely there, even as you twirled your fingers, sparking the tips. “Fire proof?”</p><p>“Fire tolerable, I wouldn’t say proof.”</p><p>He lights up at your smile. “Alright, I like it. What else did that big brain cook up?”</p><p>“Well…” He beams as he shows you a sword, some kind of staff that does something to complex for you to understand, and shield, and a few different explosives.</p><p>“It’s impressive, Tony. Even for you. You didn’t have to do all of this.”</p><p>He shrugs. “This is my way of protecting you without being there.”</p><p>You look around, feeling slightly overwhelmed. It’s a declaration if you’ve ever seen one before. One of love, and support, and trust. It warms you soul and breaks your heart in one fell swoop.</p><p>When you turn to face him, a tear falls. “I love you. So much. You know that right?”</p><p>It only takes him a few steps to reach you and wrap his arms around your waist. The smile he gives you is almost enough to knock you breathless. “I do. Almost as much as I love you.”</p><p>**</p><p>Tony’s a worrier, this isn’t news.</p><p>So, when he walks you towards the Quinjet in silence and pauses just at the entrance, you begin to feel a little voice start to gnaw away at you. Stay, it whispers feather light. Don’t leave him. His sigh pulls you back, but he can’t seem to meet your eyes when you turn to him.</p><p>You grab his hand, rub the pad of your thumb gently over his knuckles. “Three weeks.” You tell him. “We’ve survived much worse.”</p><p>He frowns. “Two and a half and then I bring you home myself.”</p><p>You laugh, trying to imagine Fury attempting to reign in a very angry Tony, and press your lips to his cheek. “Two and a half it is.”</p><p>“It appears you have another goodbye to endure.” Tony nods his head behind you.</p><p>You sigh and make your way towards Steve. “It’s a little late to be talking me out-“</p><p>He raises his hands. “I come in peace. I wanted to catch you before you left so I could give you this.”</p><p>He holds out a necklace, a silver sunflower hangs from the delicate chain.</p><p>“Uh… Thank you?”</p><p>He laughs at the confusion prominently displayed across your face. “It’s a tracker.” He stops you before you can scold him. “Only when you activate it. Just push the center and it will send a signal here, we’ll come get you. The chain and the pendant are made of adamantium, so you’ll have to actually try to break it.”</p><p>“Oh.” You examine it closer. “That’s actually really nice of you without falling into controlling. You can learn.”</p><p>He rolls his eyes. “Tell me you know at least half of all of those new toys Stark sent you with have some kind of GPS?”</p><p>You glance back at Tony and smile. “I do. I’ll be leaving them on the Quinjet, you know I prefer my hands anyways. Hopefully I don’t hurt his feelings too bad.”</p><p>Steve still didn’t like any of this. A sinking feeling in his gut was telling him that something was going to go terribly wrong, but everyone kept telling him to just trust that you knew what you were doing and you weren’t going to leave Tony broken by doing something as stupid as getting yourself killed.</p><p>“Just promise me you’ll actually use it if you find yourself in real trouble.” His frown doesn’t disappear when you nod. “I still don’t like it.”</p><p>“I know. Believe me, no one does, not even me. But this is something I need to do. Thank you, Steve, really. Thank you for always looking out for us, for being a great, albeit pain in the ass, but still a great friend.” You embrace him and lean into his ear. “Keep him safe from himself.”</p><p>When you pull away, he looks alarmed enough that you’re afraid he’ll stop you cold. But you smile anyways, gesture to Tony behind you and laugh.</p><p>“You two try to keep each other out of trouble.”</p><p>**</p><p>Twelve days later, Tony is in the middle of cracking a joke at Steve’s expense when your mayday rings out over the compound’s intercom system- crackles static in the air above them. Your voice fades in, hushed and desperate. Tony can here the tears thick in your voice, but realizes it’s only one way when you don’t respond to the countless times he calls your name.</p><p>“Jarvis, get a trace!” He yells.</p><p>There’s a grunt from you followed by shuffling. You don’t tell them where you are, Tony thinks you may not know. There’s only an apology when you ask that they don’t come looking for you.</p><p>“I won’t be around much longer.” The calmness that emanates from your voice sets the whole room on edge. “It’s almost done. I’m sorry, Tony, I’m so sorry.”</p><p>“The feed is untraceable.” Jarvis tells them. Tony is sat frozen in his fear, listening to everything as intently as he can.</p><p>Another voice is picked up on your end. It’s inaudible, but the deep laughter that follows rings out wicked enough that Natasha feels a wave of nausea hit her. You grunt again and something with glass breaks during what they can only assume is a violent struggle.</p><p>Your scream is the last thing they hear before the line goes dead.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Follow me on Tumblr @kaylakaboo!</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>